


The Flip of a Coin

by hutchynstarsk



Category: Alias Smith and Jones
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:09:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24474061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hutchynstarsk/pseuds/hutchynstarsk
Summary: Heyes’ secret guilt over the toss of a coin.  Related to “The Great Shell Game”
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	The Flip of a Coin

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted here, 2010: https://aliassmithjones.livejournal.com/86439.html#cutid1

It was a flip of a coin. One of us went to Mexico to deliver the documents, and one of us stayed behind.  
  
(“No need for both of us to eat trail dust, right?”)  
  
He just nodded that curly head of his and went along with me. And I got out my special coins. The ones I never lose with. I’ve got two of them. You keep ‘em in your palm, and when the other guy picks heads, you use the one that always comes up tails.  
  
The Kid didn’t question it. He trusts me.  
  
He wouldn’t have thought to split up so one of us could enjoy the creature comforts of town. He’d have been happy enough to ride along together, doubled up for safety-like. But I wanted to stay behind and rest.  
  
So I did.  
  
I flipped my coin and won, and now look what happened. With nobody to watch your back, you got caught—tricked—locked up.  
  
(“He’d have spent the rest of his life in jail.”)  
  
All because of me.  
  
I’m setting things right now. He’s free, and I’m getting back the money so we can get back our shot at amnesty.  
  
(“What’s amnesty, Heyes?” Trusting me to tell him—trusting that I’d always tell him right, tell him the truth…)  
  
I’m fixing it now, and maybe some good will come out of it. Maybe he won’t be so quick to trust a pretty face.  
  
But even if he does learn a lesson from it, even if everything’s fine by the end, I’m still a heel. You don’t do what I did to a friend, to a guy who trusts you. You just don’t.  
  
I wonder if I’ll ever have the nerve to tell him what I did.  
  
_“It was my fault, Kid. My fault…”_  
  
  
<<<>>>


End file.
